Hot Stove #4 – Snow, Third Base, Taxes, Reader Comments and Ballet

~ Lonnie Shalton

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“There are only two seasons – winter and baseball”:  So said my favorite baseball owner, Bill Veeck.  I got this quote from Inside Pitch, a weekly newsletter from the Baseball Hall of Fame. I recently signed up as a member of the HOF and got a junior membership for my 10-year-old grandson Ian. Within the next year or two, we hope to travel to Cooperstown for our first visit. The Veeck quote led off an article about Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Ed Walsh who are shown in this photo packing snow to practice throwing curveballs in wintery NY in the early 1920’s. They could also do that this week with the blizzard that hit NY.

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Hot Stove #3 – Martin Luther King Day, Vic Power, Alex Gordon, HOF and CHIEFS!

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~ Lonnie Shalton

Kansas City Monarchs and the Major Leagues: Three years ago, my annual Martin Luther King message highlighted the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the role played by Bill Veeck in the integration of baseball. As noted then, the roster of the Kansas City Monarchs produced not only Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn, 1947), but also the first blacks to play for six other of the then-existing 16 teams. One of those was catcher Elston Howard who played for the Monarchs from 1948 to 1950. He went from the Monarchs to the Yankee farm system (including 1953 with the Kansas City Blues ) and was then promoted to the Yankee roster in 1955. This takes us to the story of Vic Power.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 2016 “Everybody Deserves a Shot” – Alexander Hamilton and Sam Phillips

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~ Lonnie Shalton

Another year, another MLK Day. My 15th annual message is attached below. The ideas for this year’s message came from unexpected sources.

My beach read on a December vacation was the new Peter Guralnick biography Sam Phillips: The Man who Invented Rock ‘N’ Roll.  I was intrigued by Guralnick’s conclusion that Phillips had three major passions: civil rights, baseball and the music form that became rock ‘n’ roll. Those of you who have read my musings on these three subjects will not be surprised that this makes Sam my soul brother.

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Larry and Diana’s Excellent Virtual Adventure to Prague – July, 2015

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~ Lonnie Shalton

Long term planning does not always work out. Diana and Larry Brewer have long had Prague on their bucket list and the four of us scheduled a trip for July.  Di took ill at the wrong time, and so she and Larry are working through trip cancellation insurance issues.  The good news is that Di is on the road to recovery and the four of us plan to attend our fifth consecutive Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day Weekend. This assumes Rita’s ears un-pop by then (those long flights over the ocean).

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